The Price Revolution , sometimes known as the Spanish Price Revolution , was a series of economic events that occurred between the second half of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century, and most specifically linked to the high rate of inflation that occurred during this period across Western Europe . Prices rose on average roughly sixfold over 150 years. This level of inflation amounts to 1.2% per year compounded, a relatively low inflation rate for modern-day standards, but rather high given the monetary policy in place in the 16th century.
177-578: Generally it is thought that this high inflation was caused by the large influx of gold and silver from the Spanish treasure fleet from the New World ; including Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and the rest of the Spanish Empire . Specie flowed through Spain increasing its prices and those of allied European countries (e.g., the imperial territories of Charles V ). Wealth then spread to the rest of Western Europe as
354-399: A fault . Water often lubricates faults, filling in fractures and jogs. About 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) below the surface, under very high temperatures and pressures, the water carries high concentrations of carbon dioxide, silica, and gold. During an earthquake, the fault jog suddenly opens wider. The water inside the void instantly vaporizes, flashing to steam and forcing silica, which forms
531-814: A port city of the Burgundian Low Countries where major agencies of the Fugger and Welser were located. This allowed Antwerp to become the center of the international economy and accelerated the capitalist transition of the Low Countries. Certain golden objects have survived in descriptions: for example, some were displayed in Brussels to the German artist Albrecht Dürer who wrote: "In all my life, I have seen nothing that rejoiced my heart so much as these things". French corsaires were constantly disrupting this trade: notably,
708-528: A 1566 treatise by the Royal Councilor Jean de Malestroit . Malestroit argued that lower-quality coins were the chief culprit of price influx—similar to the periodic inflations of the 14th and 15th centuries. Bodin dismissed this argument, contending that the growing influx of silver from the Spanish Americas was the primary cause of price inflation. Championed for the quantity theory of money , Bodin
885-552: A campus of the ITESM college system. The city hosts a number of religious and cultural festivals throughout the year. The Festival Cultural de Zacatecas is held each year in the city during Holy Week, which unites artists of different genres from classic to rock and offers visitors more than 130 attractions. Some of the artists have included La Barranca, Real de Catorce, blues singer Betsy Pecannins and singer Vicky Carr. There are also theatrical events and events for children. About 90% of
1062-460: A collection of puppets from Burma , Indonesia and China. There is also a collection of masks and puppets which belonged to one of the most important theatrical companies in 20th-century Mexico. This museum was begun when Rafael donated 10,764 pieces from his own collection to the city of Zacatecas. The Manuel Felguérez Museum contains a large collection of abstract art by the namesake and other artists covering three generations. One exhibition
1239-483: A dilute solution of gold(III) chloride or chlorauric acid . Unlike sulfur, phosphorus reacts directly with gold at elevated temperatures to produce gold phosphide (Au 2 P 3 ). Gold readily dissolves in mercury at room temperature to form an amalgam , and forms alloys with many other metals at higher temperatures. These alloys can be produced to modify the hardness and other metallurgical properties, to control melting point or to create exotic colors. Gold
1416-458: A floor to prices) but by the actions of monopolists (or governments) whose positions in this period were enhanced by the steady population growth in Western Europe. The resurgence of population after the plague is linked to the "demand-pull" explanation of the price revolution, which states that an increase in the demand for money and the growth of economic activity produced the rise in prices and
1593-572: A gold-from-seawater swindle in the United States in the 1890s, as did an English fraudster in the early 1900s. Fritz Haber did research on the extraction of gold from sea water in an effort to help pay Germany 's reparations following World War I . Based on the published values of 2 to 64 ppb of gold in seawater, a commercially successful extraction seemed possible. After analysis of 4,000 water samples yielding an average of 0.004 ppb, it became clear that extraction would not be possible, and he ended
1770-830: A golden hue to metallic caesium . Common colored gold alloys include the distinctive eighteen-karat rose gold created by the addition of copper. Alloys containing palladium or nickel are also important in commercial jewelry as these produce white gold alloys. Fourteen-karat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges . Fourteen- and eighteen-karat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold . Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron , and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium . Less commonly, addition of manganese , indium , and other elements can produce more unusual colors of gold for various applications. Colloidal gold , used by electron-microscopists,
1947-535: A high rate of inflation. The failure of the Spanish to control the influx of gold and the price fluctuations of gold and silver from the American mines, combined with war expenditures, led to three bankruptcies of the Spanish monarchy by the end of the 16th century. In the 16th century, prices increased consistently throughout Western Europe, and by the end of the century prices reached levels three to four times higher than at
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#17330854654772124-552: A large alluvial deposit. The mines at Roşia Montană in Transylvania were also very large, and until very recently, still mined by opencast methods. They also exploited smaller deposits in Britain , such as placer and hard-rock deposits at Dolaucothi . The various methods they used are well described by Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia written towards the end of
2301-409: A monastery in 1558. Sovereign default was declared in 1557. Conditions in 16th century Europe support the view that the separation of constantly rising prices and fixed rents destroyed landowners. But this did not apply to Spain, where rent was not fixed and the power of landowners allowed them to raise rent and replace their tenants based on the tenants' ability to meet payments. On the other hand,
2478-466: A much smaller proportion of the total coined money supply (something the Spanish kings had overlooked and Malestroit was able to pinpoint). Demographic factors also contributed to upward pressure on prices with the resurgence of European population growth after the century of depopulation following the Black Death (1347–1353). The price of food rose during the years of the plague, and then began to fall as
2655-399: A mural depicting the history of the state. This mural was painted in 1970 by Antonio Pintor Rodríguez. One of the mansions that line the main plaza is called the "Palacio de la Mala Noche", which belonged to a miner named José Manuel de Rétegui in the 18th century. The name comes from a legend that states that the owner fell into poverty and one night decided to commit suicide. When he was at
2832-532: A network for the flow of silver from Spain through western and central Europe. Urbanization is often connected with the increased velocity of money theory because the frequency of transactions increases as urban centers grow relative to rural areas. For example, in England, many lands held as common lands were enclosed so that only the landlord could graze his animals. This forced his former tenants either to pay an increased rent, or to leave their own farms. An increase in
3009-462: A novel type of metal-halide perovskite material consisting of Au and Au cations in its crystal structure has been found. It has been shown to be unexpectedly stable at normal conditions. Gold pentafluoride , along with its derivative anion, AuF − 6 , and its difluorine complex , gold heptafluoride , is the sole example of gold(V), the highest verified oxidation state. Some gold compounds exhibit aurophilic bonding , which describes
3186-516: A number of earthquakes since the colonial period. The last occurred in 1995 and caused minor damage. In 2009, the city council approved the logotype of the new administration with includes the Virgin of Zacatecas image. However, since then it has been claimed that the new logo violates Article 5 of the Zacatecas constitution and Article 10 of a law called Bando de Policía y Buen Gobierno . Another objection
3363-673: A pressure to increase the supply of money. The significant increase of European population in the period 1460–1620 meant that there were now more people to be fed, clothed, and housed raising the demand for goods of all kinds. Agricultural products then became crucial to the European market. Producers were unable to respond to the rising demand as new and less fertile land were cultivated. Essentially, marginal costs were increasing and per-capita yields were shrinking, while demand continued to rise. The price of agricultural commodities, especially grain, rose sooner and faster than those of other goods, and
3540-438: A price increase in the agrarian sector because of an increase demand for food. Marginal lands that were not very fertile and far away from markets were unable to adopt the technological developments to offset the lower returns of farming. In turn this led to a higher marginal cost to farming and resulted in a price increase for grains and other agricultural goods that surpassed the price increase for non-agrarian commodities during
3717-598: A result of the Spanish balance of payments deficit, or was directly introduced to countries like Great Britain and France, using piracy to attack the Spanish fleet . This enlarged the monetary supply and price levels of many European countries. Most historians look at the end of the Renaissance as the start of the Price Revolution. An era that was often considered a time of peace for the Western European population,
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#17330854654773894-569: A sauce made with poblano , guajillo or ancho chili peppers . The interior of the building has two floors with wrought iron columns and the façade is French style fronted by the Plazoleta Goitia. Another market for crafts is the Casa de Artesanias in front of the Temple of San Agustín, which sells wool serapes, masks, Huichol figures, wood boxes, ceramics and more. The former Temple of San Francisco
4071-401: A sheet of 1 square metre (11 sq ft), and an avoirdupois ounce into 28 square metres (300 sq ft). Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become semi-transparent. The transmitted light appears greenish-blue because gold strongly reflects yellow and red. Such semi-transparent sheets also strongly reflect infrared light, making them useful as infrared (radiant heat) shields in
4248-517: A solution of Au(OH) 3 in concentrated H 2 SO 4 produces red crystals of gold(II) sulfate , Au 2 (SO 4 ) 2 . Originally thought to be a mixed-valence compound, it has been shown to contain Au 4+ 2 cations, analogous to the better-known mercury(I) ion, Hg 2+ 2 . A gold(II) complex, the tetraxenonogold(II) cation, which contains xenon as a ligand, occurs in [AuXe 4 ](Sb 2 F 11 ) 2 . In September 2023,
4425-480: A tourist attraction. Today, visitors can take a small train which leads into the mountain for about a half a kilometer, then walk with a guide along some of the narrow passages. One of the things to see is an altar to the Santo Niño de Atocha . At night, the former rock crushing room of the mine has been converted into a nightclub. The Toma de Zacatecas Museum is located on Cerro de la Bufa, which played at part in
4602-470: Is Au with a half-life of 2.27 days. Gold's least stable isomer is Au with a half-life of only 7 ns. Au has three decay paths: β decay, isomeric transition , and alpha decay. No other isomer or isotope of gold has three decay paths. The possible production of gold from a more common element, such as lead , has long been a subject of human inquiry, and the ancient and medieval discipline of alchemy often focused on it; however,
4779-696: Is Au , which decays by proton emission with a half-life of 30 μs. Most of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses below 197 decay by some combination of proton emission , α decay , and β decay . The exceptions are Au , which decays by electron capture, and Au , which decays most often by electron capture (93%) with a minor β decay path (7%). All of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses above 197 decay by β decay. At least 32 nuclear isomers have also been characterized, ranging in atomic mass from 170 to 200. Within that range, only Au , Au , Au , Au , and Au do not have isomers. Gold's most stable isomer
4956-669: Is a transition metal , a group 11 element , and one of the noble metals . It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, being the second-lowest in the reactivity series . It is solid under standard conditions . Gold often occurs in free elemental ( native state ), as nuggets or grains, in rocks , veins , and alluvial deposits . It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as in electrum ), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium , and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite . Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium ( gold tellurides ). Gold
5133-593: Is a testament to the wealth that the city had in the 18th century. Later on, additions were made. The dome was rebuilt in 1848 and the south tower was completed in 1904, by Dámaso Muñetón. The 19th-century dome is an imitation of the dome of the Church of Loreto in Mexico City. The church achieved cathedral status in 1862, and was declared a national monument in 1935. In 1965, the building was robbed of many of its precious metal items, which were never recovered. The cathedral
5310-648: Is also known, an example of a mixed-valence complex . Gold does not react with oxygen at any temperature and, up to 100 °C, is resistant to attack from ozone: Au + O 2 ⟶ ( no reaction ) {\displaystyle {\ce {Au + O2 ->}}({\text{no reaction}})} Au + O 3 → t < 100 ∘ C ( no reaction ) {\displaystyle {\ce {Au{}+O3->[{} \atop {t<100^{\circ }{\text{C}}}]}}({\text{no reaction}})} Some free halogens react to form
5487-520: Is also used in infrared shielding, the production of colored glass , gold leafing , and tooth restoration . Certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatory agents in medicine. Gold is the most malleable of all metals. It can be drawn into a wire of single-atom width, and then stretched considerably before it breaks. Such nanowires distort via the formation, reorientation, and migration of dislocations and crystal twins without noticeable hardening. A single gram of gold can be beaten into
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5664-427: Is always richer at the exposed surface of gold-bearing veins, owing to the oxidation of accompanying minerals followed by weathering; and by washing of the dust into streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welded by water action to form nuggets. Gold sometimes occurs combined with tellurium as the minerals calaverite , krennerite , nagyagite , petzite and sylvanite (see telluride minerals ), and as
5841-656: Is an example of the relatively rare Gothic architecture in Mexico. The Mauricio Magdaleno Public Library is in a 19th-century building which served as the granary. The façade contains an image of a winged Victory. The former Plaza de Toros and El Cubo aqueduct are located on one side of the Cerro de la Bufa. The Plaza de Toros bullring was inaugurated in 1866 and conserves much of its original architecture. Events featuring bullfighters such as Lino Zamora, Epifanio del Rio, Eloy Cavazos, Manolo Martínez and Curro Rivera were held here. However,
6018-513: Is attributed to wind-blown dust or rivers. At 10 parts per quadrillion, the Earth's oceans would hold 15,000 tonnes of gold. These figures are three orders of magnitude less than reported in the literature prior to 1988, indicating contamination problems with the earlier data. A number of people have claimed to be able to economically recover gold from sea water , but they were either mistaken or acted in an intentional deception. Prescott Jernegan ran
6195-577: Is derived from the Zacateco people and has its roots in Nahuatl . The name means "people of the grasslands". The first people to populate the area arrived approximately 10,000 years ago, when the climate was wetter and warmer, with different vegetation and wildlife. Eventually, the area came to be dominated by Chichimeca tribes such as the Caxcans , Guachichils , Guamares , Huichols , Zacatecos and others, with
6372-495: Is eighty-five meters high and entirely constructed of pink sandstone. It has three naves with three main portals. The main façade has three levels supported by three Solomonic columns with flank niches. At the crest is a cross. The first level has three columns decorated with vines and angels. In its niches are statues of the Four Evangelists. The second level has columns formed by shells, acanthus and vines. The choir window
6549-624: Is found here framed by stonework. The third level has an image of Christ with two of the Apostles flanked by solomonic columns decorated with leaves, caryatids and cherubs . The plaza side portal has two levels with stone columns and a sculpted scene of the crucified Christ with the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist . The market side portal is Baroque and is dedicated to the Virgen del Patrocinio, patron of
6726-464: Is found in ores in rock formed from the Precambrian time onward. It most often occurs as a native metal , typically in a metal solid solution with silver (i.e. as a gold/silver alloy ). Such alloys usually have a silver content of 8–10%. Electrum is elemental gold with more than 20% silver, and is commonly known as white gold . Electrum's color runs from golden-silvery to silvery, dependent upon
6903-519: Is fronted by the Plaza de la Revolución, which contains statues of Francisco Villa and two other generals who successfully led the attack on the city. The building housing the museum was originally the Casa de la Caridad y Hospital de Pobres. Next to the museum is the Chapel of Nuestra Señora del Patrocinio, an old hermitage from the 16th century. Its façade is Baroque with two levels. The Observatorio Meteorológico
7080-650: Is known locally as the Parish of the Inmaculada Concepción. The Church of Santo Domingo is built over a solid platform, which makes it look more monumental. It was taken over by the Dominicans when the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in the 18th century. It would substitute for the cathedral when it was in construction. It has a sober Baroque portal, with altarpieces and paintings in its interior. Attached to this church
7257-465: Is most often called the oldest since this treasure is the largest and most diverse. Gold artifacts probably made their first appearance in Ancient Egypt at the very beginning of the pre-dynastic period, at the end of the fifth millennium BC and the start of the fourth, and smelting was developed during the course of the 4th millennium; gold artifacts appear in the archeology of Lower Mesopotamia during
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7434-408: Is mostly dedicated to the works of Zacatecas painter Pedro Coronel as well as works by others that he collected. The archive includes works by Pablo Picasso, Dalí, Miró, Braque, Chagall, Basarelli, Eduardo Degas and Hogart. There are also halls dedicated to works from Africa, India, Egypt, China and Greece. The museum also contains an important collection of medals and 25,000 volumes which made up
7611-469: Is mostly used to observe weather phenomenon. Between Cerro de la Bufa and Cerro del Grillo is an aerial tramway or cable car that provides panoramic views of the city below. This cable car extends for about 650 meters, is called "El Teleférico" and was constructed in 1979 by the Swiss . The ride lasts about eight minutes, but does not operate when there are high winds. In the city proper just south of
7788-535: Is not possible to stand back far enough to see the whole Baroque façade of the main cathedral. Around the city are the Brittany hills or small mountains that contain silver and other minerals such as the Cerro de la Virgen, Cerro de Clérigos, Cerro del Grillo, Cerro del Padre and Cerro de la Bufa. These hills are starkly barren of vegetation, due to the semi-desert climate. The city is known for its clear air and clean streets, with garbage cans placed every ten meters in
7965-528: Is now questioned. The gold-bearing Witwatersrand rocks were laid down between 700 and 950 million years before the Vredefort impact. These gold-bearing rocks had furthermore been covered by a thick layer of Ventersdorp lavas and the Transvaal Supergroup of rocks before the meteor struck, and thus the gold did not actually arrive in the asteroid/meteorite. What the Vredefort impact achieved, however,
8142-516: Is only remedied if the purchasing power of the metal is equal to its production costs. From an economic viewpoint the discovery of new silver and gold deposits as well as the productivity increase in the silver mining industry perpetuated the price revolution. When precious metals entered Spain, this influx drove up the Spanish price level and caused a balance of payments deficit. This deficit occurred on account of Spanish demand for foreign products exceeding exports to foreign markets. The deficit
8319-427: Is red if the particles are small; larger particles of colloidal gold are blue. Gold has only one stable isotope , Au , which is also its only naturally occurring isotope, so gold is both a mononuclidic and monoisotopic element . Thirty-six radioisotopes have been synthesized, ranging in atomic mass from 169 to 205. The most stable of these is Au with a half-life of 186.1 days. The least stable
8496-553: Is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid ), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion . Gold is insoluble in nitric acid alone, which dissolves silver and base metals , a property long used to refine gold and confirm the presence of gold in metallic substances, giving rise to the term ' acid test '. Gold dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide , which are used in mining and electroplating . Gold also dissolves in mercury , forming amalgam alloys, and as
8673-484: Is similarly unaffected by most bases. It does not react with aqueous , solid , or molten sodium or potassium hydroxide . It does however, react with sodium or potassium cyanide under alkaline conditions when oxygen is present to form soluble complexes. Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (gold(I) or aurous compounds) and +3 (gold(III) or auric compounds). Gold ions in solution are readily reduced and precipitated as metal by adding any other metal as
8850-489: Is that the new seal contains the colors yellow and black, those of the political party of the municipal president. The city has grown to the point where houses now balance on the edge of a creek and over the mounds of waste from mines. This is possible due to the lack of regulation and urban planning by authorities. Irregularities exist in 85% of the city's neighborhoods but the neighborhoods of Lázaro Cárdenas, Minera, CNOP, Lomas de la Pimienta, Benito Juárez, González Ortega have
9027-557: Is the "Murals of Osaka" created in 1969 when Fernando Gamboa was commissioned to archive Mexico's pavilion at the World's Fair in Osaka in 1970. Since the event, the murals remained stored for decades until this permanent exhibition was installed. Artists represented include Lilia Carrillo, Francisco Corzas, Roger Van Gunten and Francisco Icasa. It includes permanent workshop space for etching, an auditorium and exhibition halls. Its building dates from
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#17330854654779204-586: Is the Alameda Trinidad García de la Cadena, which was built in the early 19th century. The Enrique Estrada General Park contains an enormous kiosk . The Meson de Jobito is a 19th-century building which is part of the garden dedicated to Benito Juárez . The former Bernárdez Hacienda now contains an artisans’ school which specializes in the making of silver items. Other mines that can be visited include La Esperanza, which extends 520 meters inside Cerro del Grillo. The Church of Nuestra Señora de Fátima
9381-460: Is the monastery building of the Company of Jesus, which contains the current Pedro Coronel Museum. Inside the church are eight Churrigueresque altars, which are carved of wood and gilded with gold mined from the Cerro del Grillo. However, the main altar is Neoclassical. The Churringueresque altars are attributed to Felipe de Ureña and his son-in-law, Juan García de Castañeda. The Calderón Theater
9558-399: Is the principal city within the municipality in Mexico of the same name, and the capital of the state of Zacatecas . Located in north-central Mexico, the city had its start as a Spanish mining camp in the mid-16th century. Native Americans had already known about the area's rich deposits of silver and other minerals. Due to the wealth that the mines provided, Zacatecas quickly became one of
9735-585: Is the soluble form of gold encountered in mining. The binary gold halides , such as AuCl , form zigzag polymeric chains, again featuring linear coordination at Au. Most drugs based on gold are Au(I) derivatives. Au(III) (referred to as auric) is a common oxidation state, and is illustrated by gold(III) chloride , Au 2 Cl 6 . The gold atom centers in Au(III) complexes, like other d compounds, are typically square planar , with chemical bonds that have both covalent and ionic character. Gold(I,III) chloride
9912-634: Is thought to have been delivered to Earth by asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment , about 4 billion years ago. Gold which is reachable by humans has, in one case, been associated with a particular asteroid impact. The asteroid that formed Vredefort impact structure 2.020 billion years ago is often credited with seeding the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa with the richest gold deposits on earth. However, this scenario
10089-505: Is thought to have been produced in supernova nucleosynthesis , and from the collision of neutron stars , and to have been present in the dust from which the Solar System formed. Traditionally, gold in the universe is thought to have formed by the r-process (rapid neutron capture) in supernova nucleosynthesis , but more recently it has been suggested that gold and other elements heavier than iron may also be produced in quantity by
10266-416: Is unaffected by most acids. It does not react with hydrofluoric , hydrochloric , hydrobromic , hydriodic , sulfuric , or nitric acid . It does react with selenic acid , and is dissolved by aqua regia , a 1:3 mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid . Nitric acid oxidizes the metal to +3 ions, but only in minute amounts, typically undetectable in the pure acid because of the chemical equilibrium of
10443-587: The consulado de mercaderes in Seville, Genoa could flourish. Genoa became a large credit market as the capital of Italian cities was all drained towards Genoa. A multitude of small investors, Genoese and others, obtained from the Crown long-term securities ( Spanish : juros de resguardo ) as collateral for their loans. Also short-term loans known as asientos could be converted into long-term juros . The contracts specified that these securities would be sold if
10620-645: The Chu (state) circulated the Ying Yuan , one kind of square gold coin. In Roman metallurgy , new methods for extracting gold on a large scale were developed by introducing hydraulic mining methods, especially in Hispania from 25 BC onwards and in Dacia from 106 AD onwards. One of their largest mines was at Las Medulas in León , where seven long aqueducts enabled them to sluice most of
10797-583: The Old Testament , starting with Genesis 2:11 (at Havilah ), the story of the golden calf , and many parts of the temple including the Menorah and the golden altar. In the New Testament , it is included with the gifts of the magi in the first chapters of Matthew. The Book of Revelation 21:21 describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets "made of pure gold, clear as crystal". Exploitation of gold in
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#173308546547710974-641: The Varna Necropolis near Lake Varna and the Black Sea coast, thought to be the earliest "well-dated" finding of gold artifacts in history. Several prehistoric Bulgarian finds are considered no less old – the golden treasures of Hotnitsa, Durankulak , artifacts from the Kurgan settlement of Yunatsite near Pazardzhik , the golden treasure Sakar, as well as beads and gold jewelry found in the Kurgan settlement of Provadia – Solnitsata ("salt pit"). However, Varna gold
11151-470: The reducing agent . The added metal is oxidized and dissolves, allowing the gold to be displaced from solution and be recovered as a solid precipitate. Less common oxidation states of gold include −1, +2, and +5. The −1 oxidation state occurs in aurides, compounds containing the Au anion . Caesium auride (CsAu), for example, crystallizes in the caesium chloride motif; rubidium, potassium, and tetramethylammonium aurides are also known. Gold has
11328-477: The 1530s, thereafter slowly declining for the next 30 years. After 1560, the decline in European silver production was rapid. Flynn contends that imports of silver from Spanish America is behind this decline in European silver mining. The first scholar to make a quantity-theory link between the influx of American "treasure" and the Price Revolution was supposedly the French philosopher Jean Bodin in his 1568 response to
11505-493: The 1550s costed as much as one war in the 1520s. Charles V was forced to borrow even more and at higher interest rates, which grew from 17% to 48%. Despite opposition from the Cortes Generales , Charles V managed to impose this vicious circle that progressively weakened the Spanish finances. Furthermore, in the last years of his reign, Charles V could not be economically supported by his non-Spanish possessions: he exempted
11682-462: The 16th and 17th centuries. Built on the steep slopes of a narrow valley, the town has views of the area. There are also several old buildings, both religious and civil. The cathedral, built between 1730 and 1760, dominates downtown. It is notable for its harmonious design and the Baroque profusion of its façades, where European and indigenous decorative elements are found side by side." Zacatecas has had
11859-544: The 16th and beginning of the 17th century. The resurgence of population after the plague is linked with the demand-pull explanation of the price revolution. This "demand-pull" theory states that an increase in the demand for money and the growth of economic activity produced the rise in prices and a pressure to increase the supply of money. Some accounts emphasize the role of urbanization . Urbanization contributed to increased trade between Europe's regions, which made prices more responsive to distant changes in demand, and provided
12036-547: The 18th century, when the silver flowing out of the mines was at its highest. These buildings have made the historic center of the city a World Heritage Site. The Cerro de la Bufa, with its El Edén mine, is one of the most important symbols of the city and was the scene of the Battle of Zacatecas (called the Toma de Zacatecas in Spanish) in which Francisco Villa emerged victorious in 1914. At
12213-589: The 18th century, which was the site of the Seminario Conciliar, and later a barracks and penitentiary. The current museum was inaugurated in 1998. The Zacatecano Museum is on Doctor Hierro Street and houses a collection of Huichol art, folk retablos (ex-votos) (folk paintings giving thanks for a miracle) and wrought ironwork. This building used to be the Casa de Moneda (coin mint) between 1802 and 1905. Other museums include Museo de Pintura Colonial and Casa Museo Ramón López Velarde . Still other museums include
12390-485: The 19th to the 23rd, General Medina used a light beacon brought from the port city of Veracruz to light the hills at night looking for rebel positions. The battle began at 10:00 a.m. on the 23rd with rebel cannon fire. Over 22,000 rebel troops then approached the city from four directions, from the mountains known as La Bufa, La Sierpe, Loreto and La Tierra Negra. The battle continued until about 5:00 that afternoon, when Huerta's troops began to abandon their positions, and
12567-651: The Battle of Zacatecas during the Mexican Revolution. The museum was opened in 1984 and contains many articles from this battle as well as some from the Cristero War . Inside are clothing and uniforms, arms such as shotguns, mousers and cannons, historic maps of Zacatecas and newspaper and photographs from the era. Photographs include those of Juana Gallo, who was a heroine of the Cristero War. Some battles from this conflict also took place on Cerro de la Bufa. The museum
12744-452: The Cathedral façade he was not executed but received a pardon. The neighborhood showered him with gifts and banquets in his honor. Yet he was not content and desired to return to France. Unfortunately when all was ready for his departure he suddenly died. Where Mrs. Butler got this story is not known, since longtime residents of Zacatecas disclaim all knowledge of it. The main square is called
12921-402: The Cerro de la Bufa. It principally produced gold and silver with most of its production occurring in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, the opening of this mine is within the city limits and was closed to mining in 1960. It was reopened as a tourist attraction in 1975. By the end of the 16th century, the city was the second most important, after Mexico City, and the income its mines produced for
13098-603: The Crown did not repay the loans. In essence, the Genoese bankers had worked out an interest rate swap . Furthermore, the Crown sold silver spot in Spain to the Genoese in exchange for future delivery of gold in Antwerp , where the gold was used to pay Spanish troops fighting in the Low Countries. Genoa benefited from the price revolution as they enjoyed the advantage of "increasing returns to scale in international financial services". Genoa during
13275-453: The División del Norte took the strategic hills of La Bufa and El Grillo, entering the city. The rebels sacked the city and destroyed a number of buildings. Battle casualties were about 5,000 for Huerta's troops and about 3,000 for the rebels. After the Mexican Revolution, the city of Zacatecas decided to revive the original seal granted to it by Philip II, and make it the seal of both the city and
13452-573: The Episcopal Gallery, the Museo de la Ciencia and the Francisco Goitia Museum. The Episcopal Gallery is located to the side of the cathedral and contains religious art from the 19th and 20th centuries. It contains religious paraphernalia, paintings and sculptures related to Catholic Church history including a multilingual Bible from 1772. The Museo de la Ciencia (Science Museum) is located in
13629-517: The Imperial foreign policy. To repay such loans, he relied primarily on the vast stream of bullion provided by Spanish America. In the 1520s and 1530s, ships full of Aztec and Inca treasures arrived from Mexico and Peru to the courts of Charles V as homage of Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro . Those treasures were usually minted into coins in Seville and transferred to German bankers in Antwerp ,
13806-508: The Indies trade (whose expansion was related directly to the rise of prices) and this encouraged more investment and profitable returns. Profitable returns were distributed beyond the merchant houses of Seville to entrepreneurs in other parts of Spain, as the American market took the oil and wine of Andalusia , the wool of Castile , the metallurgical products and ships of the Basque country . To at least
13983-635: The Low Countries from taxation after the Revolt of Ghent in 1540, Germany was in the middle of the Schmalkaldic Wars , and the budget surplus of Italian states was wiped out by the Italian Wars . This ultimately put the financial burden of the Holy Roman Empire on the Spanish kingdoms and led to the bankruptcy of Spain. Unable to sustain his projects financially, Charles V abdicated in 1556 and retired to
14160-581: The Plaza de Armas, with the most important buildings such as the State Government Palace, the State Congress, the cathedral and others surrounding it. What is now the State Government Palace was constructed at the beginning of the 18th century as the residence of the Count de la Laguna. The exterior is marked by its red roof, and the interior has a courtyard surrounded by arches and a stairwell with
14337-536: The Renaissance was a period when Western Europe experienced equilibrium in the price of commodities and labor. It also was a period when there was a high concentration of wealth in the hands of a few (the Black Death had wiped out nearly a third of the population a century before). Additionally, Europe experienced technological advancement in the mining industry, the stream of currency through debasement from royals, and
14514-712: The Spanish Crown made it one of the most powerful in Europe. Its importance was not only due to mining. Most of the mendicant religious orders in New Spain eventually established monasteries, making Zacatecas an important center for evangelization. The Franciscans arrived in 1558, the Augustinians in 1576 and the Dominicans in 1604. Many of the missionary expeditions to what are now California and Texas came from this city. Over
14691-553: The Spanish King Philip III tried to cement his Spanish legacy through changes in coinage strategy. Previously, Spanish kings (at least from 1471) issued a largely copper fractional coinage called blancas, with a nominal money-of-account value of 0.5 maravedí , but with a very small amount of silver to convince the public that it was indeed precious-metal "money". The blanca issued in 1471 had a silver fineness of 10 grains or 3.47% (weighing 1.107 g). In 1497, that fineness
14868-608: The Spanish and Portuguese brought a large amount of gold from the New World to Europe. Starting in the 1540s a growing amount of silver was shipped to Europe from Zacatecas , Guanajuato and Taxco mines in Mexico and the Potosí mountain in Peru. The production of the Potosí mine increased greatly in the 1560s after mercury deposits had been discovered in the Andes, as mercury was necessary to process
15045-563: The Zacatecos being the most numerous in the area of the city today. These peoples were mining silver and other metals in the hills long before the Europeans arrived, making the area important in pre-Columbian times. The Spanish came to the Zacatecas area via Guadalajara . In 1540, Nuño de Guzmán traveled from Mexico City conquering what are now the states of Michoacán and Jalisco . One of Guzmán's lieutenants, Cristóbal de Oñate , conquered
15222-475: The area around what is now Guadalajara. Another, Pedro Almindes Chirinos Peralmindes , went to explore the lands to the north, taking Zacatecas with little trouble but not knowing of the riches underneath the soil. And the area initially was simply frontier. Other expeditions followed, including one by Juan de Tolosa in 1546, who brought back rock samples from Cerro de la Bufa , which were determined to contain high concentrations of silver and lead. A mining camp
15399-492: The beginning. The annual inflation rate ranged from 1% to 1.5%. Since the monetary system of the 16th century was based on specie (mostly silver) this inflation rate was significant. The specie-centered monetary organization had its own price-level stabilization property: rising commodity prices led to a fall in the purchasing power of the monetary metals, and therefore less incentive to mine them and more incentive to use them for non-monetary purposes. This stabilizing adjustment of
15576-608: The cathedral is the González Ortega Market, which was constructed in 1889 and still conserves its original façade. Originally, it was a traditional Mexican style market but has since been modernized into a mall with stores selling crafts, silver, leather, Zacatecas wine, antiques, charreada gear, Huichol needlework and regional sweets. There are also restaurants which offer regional dishes such as gorditas, asado de boda, pozole verde, pacholes, gorditas rellenas and enchiladas zacatecanas, filled with pork or cheese and covered in
15753-460: The church remains, worked in sculpted stone, with the scene of St. Agustine being converted to Christianity. Inside, the church has distinctive arches as well as a cupola and side portal. The sacristy contains some of the sculptures from the original main façade. It also contains a collection of colonial artwork and hosts exhibitions. The Temple of Santo Domingo Jesuit church of Santo Domingo, built between 1746 and 1749 by Cayetano de Sigüenza. It
15930-488: The city center. This city, along with Guanajuato and Taxco are along a route called the "Ruta de la Plata" or Silver Route. These cities are distinguished not only for silver but for the conservation of their colonial façades and narrow streets. Zacatecas conserves many of its original structures from the colonial period such as churches, colonial government buildings and monasteries and mansions built by rich miners in pink stone. Most of these buildings were constructed in
16107-414: The city was built near the mines on very rough terrain. It is at the foot of the Cerro de la Bufa, in which was one of the greatest silver mines in the world. Instead of having an orderly plan of streets, the Spanish settlement followed the old Indian neighborhoods with narrow streets and alleys squeezed into a large ravine or "cañada". Without attempting to modify the rough terrain, development also ran up
16284-480: The city when the first state constitution was signed. The first newspaper in the state started circulation herein 1825. The municipality was established in 1825. From the end of the War of Independence until nearly the end of the 19th century, liberals or federalists and conservatives, who favored centralized rule from Mexico City, battled for control of Zacatecas. In 1835, then-liberal Antonio López de Santa Anna defeated
16461-582: The city. The interior has a Latin cross layout with two naves and with the roof supported by Doric order columns. The altarpieces are made of stone in Neoclassical style. The main altar is dedicated to the Eucharist with side altars dedicated to the Holy Christ and the Virgin of Zacatecas. The American author Mrs. John Wesley Butler, in her book "Historic Churches in Mexico" tells us that the artist who designed
16638-1409: The corresponding gold halides. Gold is strongly attacked by fluorine at dull-red heat to form gold(III) fluoride AuF 3 . Powdered gold reacts with chlorine at 180 °C to form gold(III) chloride AuCl 3 . Gold reacts with bromine at 140 °C to form a combination of gold(III) bromide AuBr 3 and gold(I) bromide AuBr, but reacts very slowly with iodine to form gold(I) iodide AuI: 2 Au + 3 F 2 → Δ 2 AuF 3 {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+3F2->[{} \atop \Delta ]2AuF3}}} 2 Au + 3 Cl 2 → Δ 2 AuCl 3 {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+3Cl2->[{} \atop \Delta ]2AuCl3}}} 2 Au + 2 Br 2 → Δ AuBr 3 + AuBr {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+2Br2->[{} \atop \Delta ]AuBr3{}+AuBr}}} 2 Au + I 2 → Δ 2 AuI {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+I2->[{} \atop \Delta ]2AuI}}} Gold does not react with sulfur directly, but gold(III) sulfide can be made by passing hydrogen sulfide through
16815-400: The day of the Virgin of Zapopan, who was the patron until 1975. Since then the patron has been changed to the Virgin del Patrocinio, who is celebrated on the same day,. The city center was named a World Heritage Site in 1993. UNESCO 's websites states the following as justification. "Founded in 1546 after the discovery of a rich silver lode, Zacatecas reached the height of its prosperity in
16992-424: The densest element, osmium , is 22.588 ± 0.015 g/cm . Whereas most metals are gray or silvery white, gold is slightly reddish-yellow. This color is determined by the frequency of plasma oscillations among the metal's valence electrons, in the ultraviolet range for most metals but in the visible range for gold due to relativistic effects affecting the orbitals around gold atoms. Similar effects impart
17169-528: The different price indexes and why the Spanish prices rose the least and the Brabantine the most. Spain, unlike most other European countries of this era, underwent no debasements of the gold and silver coinages during most of the period, but that all changed in 1599, when the new Spanish king Philip III (1598–1621) introduced the purely copper "vellon" coinage. Following Henry VIII of England and his infamous " Great Debasement " programme that began 1526,
17346-526: The discovery of silver mines in the Americas (such as Potosí , Zacatecas , Taxco , Guanajuato , Sombrerete ) increased the flows of precious metals. Overall, 15 million ducats' worth of bullion reached the Imperial treasury during Charles's reign. This contributed to the higher inflation known as the Spanish price revolution: prices doubled in the first half of the 16th century. The rising costs of war had dramatic consequences on Habsburg finances: one campaign in
17523-664: The early 4th millennium. As of 1990, gold artifacts found at the Wadi Qana cave cemetery of the 4th millennium BC in West Bank were the earliest from the Levant. Gold artifacts such as the golden hats and the Nebra disk appeared in Central Europe from the 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age . The oldest known map of a gold mine was drawn in the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (1320–1200 BC), whereas
17700-527: The early stages of the price revolution. In 1520 at the beginning of the price revolution England's population was roughly 2.5 million people. This is about half of the English population of 5 million in 1300. Critics of the population argument raise the question that if England at the beginning stages of the price revolution was very unpopulated, how could any renewed growth from such a low level immediately spark inflation? It can be argued that population growth led to
17877-483: The emergence of Protestantism . The severe shortage of precious metals during the late 15th and early 16th centuries eased in the second half of the 16th century. The Spanish mined American gold and silver at minimal cost and flooded the European market with an abundance of specie. This influx caused a relative decrease in the value of these metals in comparison with agricultural and craft products. Furthermore, depopulation – specifically in southern Spain – resulted in
18054-430: The end of the 16th century there was still money to be made in Spain for selected merchants and manufactures. The Crown, like its ally the aristocracy, was less crippled by the price revolution than the majority of its subjects. Certainly the cost of administration, and of paying, feeding, and equipping its armed forces, rose for the Crown just as the cost of goods did for the private consumer; unlike other countries, Spain
18231-489: The end of the initial rush of New World bullion. Prices remained around or slightly below the levels of the first half of the 17th century until the onset of new inflationary pressures in the latter decades of the 18th century. Gold Gold is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Au (from Latin aurum ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright , slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable , and ductile metal . Chemically, gold
18408-419: The event has a capacity of 5,000 and has hosted names such as Vicente Fernández , Alejandra Guzmán , Rocío Dúrcal , Rio Roma , and Ha*Ash . It has exhibition and sales of crafts, livestock and food. Other events include charreadas and bullfighting. The evening has folkloric dance and fireworks. The Festival Zacatecas del Folclor International takes place the first week of August. Religious events include
18585-676: The events are free. The event is organized by the state of Zacatecas with support from the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, ISSSTE, IMSS, CONACULTA and other government agencies. The Feria Nacional de Zacatecas is held during the month of September at the foot of the Cerro de la Bufa. It includes concerts, bullfighting, events at the Foro Infantil, crafts expositions as well as exhibitions of livestock, autos and culture. The annual event began in 1940 and received more than two million visitors each year since 2002. The main concert hall for
18762-403: The façade was French. This individual, condemned to death for some grave problem was able to get the execution postponed until he finished his work on the cathedral. He was able to continue the work for twenty-one years, being watched constantly by custodians and sentries while he worked. Finally bored with such a life, he declared one day that he was ready to be executed. But because of his work on
18939-417: The feast of the Virgin of Zacatecas and the feast of the Virgin del Patrocinio. Activities associated with these events include parades with floats, musical concerts, bullfighting, processions and other religious events. The Virgin of Zacatecas is housed in a chapel built in 1728 and regularly receives visitors from the city and other areas. The Virgin of Patrocinio, whose day is September 14, celebrates one of
19116-483: The fight for Mexican independence from Spain. Víctor Rosales and José María Cos were leaders of Hidalgo's rebellion. Shortly after Independence, the Mexican government established the city of Zacatecas as the capital of the newly formed state of Zacatecas. In the mid-1820s, institutions such as the first opera house, first teachers’ college, the state treasury, the state supreme court and other institutions were founded in
19293-677: The first century AD. During Mansa Musa 's (ruler of the Mali Empire from 1312 to 1337) hajj to Mecca in 1324, he passed through Cairo in July 1324, and was reportedly accompanied by a camel train that included thousands of people and nearly a hundred camels where he gave away so much gold that it depressed the price in Egypt for over a decade, causing high inflation . A contemporary Arab historian remarked: Zacatecas City Zacatecas ( Spanish pronunciation: [sakaˈtekas] )
19470-526: The first written reference to gold was recorded in the 12th Dynasty around 1900 BC. Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which King Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was "more plentiful than dirt" in Egypt. Egypt and especially Nubia had the resources to make them major gold-producing areas for much of history. One of the earliest known maps, known as the Turin Papyrus Map , shows
19647-403: The gold acts simply as a solute, this is not a chemical reaction . A relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage , jewelry , and other works of art throughout recorded history . In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy . Gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard
19824-504: The government forces of Victoriano Huerta . Zacatecas was the last stronghold of the Huerta forces, which the División del Norte arrived on June 19, 1914, from Torreón . Taking the city would clear the way for Villa to proceed to Mexico City. Villa's forces were under the direct command of General Felipe Ángeles, and Huerta's forces were under the command of General Luis Medina Barrón . From
20001-402: The great rural emigration to the towns, which in turn makes it difficult to explain the alleged extension of cultivation in Spain. But one thing is certain—wages lagged behind prices. But landowners and the rich were not the only ones gaining from the price revolution. Anyone with something to sell or trade could reap the benefits of inflation, particularly manufacturers and merchants. However in
20178-563: The highest electron affinity of any metal, at 222.8 kJ/mol, making Au a stable species, analogous to the halides . Gold also has a –1 oxidation state in covalent complexes with the group 4 transition metals, such as in titanium tetraauride and the analogous zirconium and hafnium compounds. These chemicals are expected to form gold-bridged dimers in a manner similar to titanium(IV) hydride . Gold(II) compounds are usually diamagnetic with Au–Au bonds such as [ Au(CH 2 ) 2 P(C 6 H 5 ) 2 ] 2 Cl 2 . The evaporation of
20355-579: The hills. The main road through town aligns north–south along the Arroyo de la Plata, with the rest of the city filled with small winding alleys and streets and tiny plazas. Many of the alleys have names that refer to local legends, such as the "Callejón del Indio Triste" (Alley of the Sad Indian) and "Callejón del Mono Prieto" (Alley of the Dark Monkey). The only really open space is the main plaza. Even here, it
20532-399: The inflation of agricultural prices eventually caused a general increase in price level in all industries. Until the mid-17th century, the number of mouths to feed outran the capacity of agriculture to supply basic foodstuffs, causing the vast majority of people to live in a constant state of hunger. Until food production could catch up with the increasing population, prices, especially those of
20709-478: The largest number of them. Many of these buildings have structural and infrastructure problems such as flooding during rains and the damage this creates. The city is called "con rostro de cantera rosa y corazón de plata" (with a face of pink stone and a heart of silver) because of the pink stone that many of its iconic buildings are made of and the silver that has spurred its development and history. Like other mining cities in Mexico, such as Guanajuato and Taxco ,
20886-526: The libraries of the old convents (including 15,000 from Our Lady of Guadalupe alone). Most of these are in the Elías Armador Historical Library, which contains over 20,000 volumes. The Rafael Coronel Museum, named after the brother of Pedro Coronel, is housed in eight halls of the monastery complex which was part of the Church of San Francisco. This museum is dedicated to historic relics with
21063-462: The main collection being 5,000 masks made of wood. leather and clay coming from many of Mexico's regional cultures, past and present. Many represent historic and supernatural figures. It also contains drawings and sketches by Diego Rivera . In the halls dedicated to the colonial period, there is a set of terracotta figures from the 17th and 18th centuries and in the Rosete Aranda Hall there is
21240-448: The main plaza, is the cathedral, which is located over the ruins of pre-Hispanic temples. The current structure dates from 1752 and has a façade of sculpted pink stone. The best time to appreciate the façade is in the late afternoon when the sun shines directly on it. This church is considered to be one of the best examples of Mexican Churrigueresque architecture. The first parish church was built on this site between 1567 and 1585, but it
21417-542: The mineral quartz, and gold out of the fluids and onto nearby surfaces. The world's oceans contain gold. Measured concentrations of gold in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific are 50–150 femtomol /L or 10–30 parts per quadrillion (about 10–30 g/km ). In general, gold concentrations for south Atlantic and central Pacific samples are the same (~50 femtomol/L) but less certain. Mediterranean deep waters contain slightly higher concentrations of gold (100–150 femtomol/L), which
21594-408: The money supply led to long-run stability of price levels regardless of permanent shifts in money demand over time. Therefore, the long-run inflation can only be explained either by the devaluation of coins or by shifts in the supply of the specie. An increase in the productivity of mining in Peru led to a fall in the price of metals relative to rising prices for other commodities in Europe. This process
21771-511: The most celebrated images in the Zacatecas area. This event lasts for ten days with traditional dances, processions and more. This feast coincides with the Feria Nacional de Zacatecas and Mexico's Independence Day. On Good Friday, a large procession called the "Procession of Silence" is held. The last three days of August are dedicated to an event called Morismas de Bracho. This event involves approximately 5,000 people in costume who commemorate
21948-687: The most important mining cities in New Spain . The area saw battles during the turbulent 19th century, but the next major event was the Battle of Zacatecas during the Mexican Revolution when Francisco Villa captured the town, an event still celebrated every anniversary. Today, the colonial part of the city is a World Heritage Site , due to the Baroque and other structures built during its mining days. Mining still remains an important industry. The name Zacatecas
22125-433: The name of "Muy Noble y Leal Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de Zacatecas" (Very Noble and Loyal City of Our Lady of Zacatecas), receiving its coat of arms from Philip II of Spain at the same time. The success of the mines led to the arrival of indigenous people and the importation of black slaves to work in them. The mining camp spread southwards along the course of the Arroyo de la Plata, which now lies underneath Hidalgo Avenue,
22302-411: The noble metals, it still forms many diverse compounds. The oxidation state of gold in its compounds ranges from −1 to +5, but Au(I) and Au(III) dominate its chemistry. Au(I), referred to as the aurous ion, is the most common oxidation state with soft ligands such as thioethers , thiolates , and organophosphines . Au(I) compounds are typically linear. A good example is Au(CN) − 2 , which
22479-594: The number of people unable to afford their farms led to migration into the cities in search of employment. This in turn led to an increase in the velocity of monetary transactions, but was frustrated by the high demand and inelastic supply of food. If the influx of Spanish silver was not the initial cause of the European Price Revolution then the best explanation for the Price Revolution is population growth. This theory developed under Earl Hamilton argues that prices were not driven by specie (which, at most, sets
22656-642: The official Casa de Contratación in Seville, not including the specie shipped directly to Cadiz by the Dutch and British East India Companies . The influx of these precious metals and the resulting money supply shocks help explain the price increase in Spain during the 16th century. Some accounts emphasize the role of increased silver production within Europe itself. According to Nef, the output of silver mines in Bohemia , Germany and Hungary increased rapidly from c. 1460 to c. 1510 . Production peaked in
22833-423: The old central building of the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas and contains collections documenting the advances of physics, mathematics and natural sciences. The Francisco Goitia Museum contains works by this Zacatecas artist as well as works by Julio Ruelas, Pedro and Rafael Coronel, Manuel Felguérez and Jose Kuri Brena. The city contains a number of universities and institutions of higher education, including
23010-467: The old town's main road. Tall buildings were constructed along here due to the lack of flat area on which to build. The first house was supposedly built in 1547, just before the fortress and metal foundry. Hospitals and hospices were built in the 1550s. Zacatecas was one of the richest states in Mexico. One of the most important mines from the colonial period is the El Edén mine. It began operations in 1586 in
23187-451: The period, the Republic of Genoa gambled the majority of its economic interest on the Spanish monarchy—bankers invested their money in the crown and farmers of Spanish revenue, while Genoa's merchants and nobles settled in Spain (Madrid, Seville, Kingdom of Naples and Sicily ) marrying local nobility and monopolizing majority of the trade. As long as New Spain was sending silver and gold to
23364-562: The period. Rising costs to sustain Habsburg war efforts eventually led to a severe rise of the Spanish public debt , of which German and Italian bankers were the creditors. The Habsburg Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was also King of Spain and borrowed enormous amounts of money from the Fuggers , the Welsers , and Genoese banking families, in order to be elected Emperor and sustain, for over 35 years,
23541-457: The person of Leonor Cortés Moctezuma , the illegitimate daughter of conquistador Hernán Cortés and Isabel Moctezuma , daughter of the Aztec emperor. Doña Leonor married Juan de Tolosa. The settlement grew over the space of a few years into one of the most important cities in New Spain and the most populous after Mexico City. The camp became a parish in 1550, in 1585, then it was declared a city with
23718-563: The plan of a gold mine in Nubia together with indications of the local geology . The primitive working methods are described by both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus , and included fire-setting . Large mines were also present across the Red Sea in what is now Saudi Arabia . Gold is mentioned in the Amarna letters numbered 19 and 26 from around the 14th century BC. Gold is mentioned frequently in
23895-404: The plaza was eventually closed in 1975, and abandoned. After eleven years, it was almost demolished but it was instead rehabilitated and converted into a hotel and place to hold events. The Hotel Quinta Real was built by Mexicans Ricardo and Roberto Elías Pessah and contains 49 suites. The corridors maintain the bullring atmosphere as do the stores, restaurant and event halls. The El Cubo aqueduct
24072-400: The point to doing so, he was informed that a rich vein had been found in one of his mines. Its façade has balconies and windows elaborated in sandstone. The main balcony is a half octagon. Today it houses the state supreme court. Another prominent mansion is the old house of González Ortega, which stands next to the cathedral and today is part of the governor's mansion. On the other side of
24249-577: The population of nations decreased. At the same time prices of manufactured goods rose because of a displacement of supply. As the nations began to recover and repopulate after the Black Death, the increase in population placed greater demands on agriculture. Later on, increased population placed greater demands on an agricultural area that had contracted significantly after the 1340s, or had been converted from arable to less intensive livestock production. However, population growth and recovery in countries such as England are not consistent with inflation during
24426-449: The price revolution brought impoverishment to those who lived on fixed income and small rents, as their earning could not keep pace with Spanish prices. Small landowners of the hidalgo class, the lower clergy, government officials, and many others all found their standard of living reduced as commodity prices rose beyond their means. The situation of the peasants is less clear, for it is difficult to reconcile agricultural prosperity and
24603-521: The price revolution was a snapshot of global finance at its best. Unfortunately, the decline of Spain in the 17th century brought also the decline of Genoa (due to the Spanish crown's frequent bankruptcies); Genoa's merchant houses particularly suffered. In 1684, Genoa was bombed by a French fleet as punishment for its long alliance with Spain. As a result the Genoese bankers and traders made new economic and financial links with Louis XIV . The inflation of c. 1520–1640 eventually petered out with
24780-409: The project. The earliest recorded metal employed by humans appears to be gold, which can be found free or " native ". Small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the late Paleolithic period, c. 40,000 BC . The oldest gold artifacts in the world are from Bulgaria and are dating back to the 5th millennium BC (4,600 BC to 4,200 BC), such as those found in
24957-681: The r-process in the collision of neutron stars . In both cases, satellite spectrometers at first only indirectly detected the resulting gold. However, in August 2017, the spectroscopic signatures of heavy elements, including gold, were observed by electromagnetic observatories in the GW170817 neutron star merger event, after gravitational wave detectors confirmed the event as a neutron star merger. Current astrophysical models suggest that this single neutron star merger event generated between 3 and 13 Earth masses of gold. This amount, along with estimations of
25134-620: The rare bismuthide maldonite ( Au 2 Bi ) and antimonide aurostibite ( AuSb 2 ). Gold also occurs in rare alloys with copper , lead , and mercury : the minerals auricupride ( Cu 3 Au ), novodneprite ( AuPb 3 ) and weishanite ( (Au,Ag) 3 Hg 2 ). A 2004 research paper suggests that microbes can sometimes play an important role in forming gold deposits, transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits. A 2013 study has claimed water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold. When an earthquake strikes, it moves along
25311-420: The rate of occurrence of these neutron star merger events, suggests that such mergers may produce enough gold to account for most of the abundance of this element in the universe. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed , almost all of the gold present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core . Therefore, as hypothesized in one model, most of the gold in the Earth's crust and mantle
25488-935: The reaction. However, the ions are removed from the equilibrium by hydrochloric acid, forming AuCl − 4 ions, or chloroauric acid , thereby enabling further oxidation: 2 Au + 6 H 2 SeO 4 → 200 ∘ C Au 2 ( SeO 4 ) 3 + 3 H 2 SeO 3 + 3 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+6H2SeO4->[{} \atop {200^{\circ }{\text{C}}}]Au2(SeO4)3{}+3H2SeO3{}+3H2O}}} Au + 4 HCl + HNO 3 ⟶ HAuCl 4 + NO ↑ + 2 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {Au{}+4HCl{}+HNO3->HAuCl4{}+NO\uparrow +2H2O}}} Gold
25665-452: The rest of the colonial period, the riches from the ground financed the building of important religious and secular constructions. The peak of this construction occurred in the 18th century. One of these constructions is the Colegio de San Luis Gonzaga, which was established in 1796. Ignacio López Rayón led a group of Mexican rebels capturing the city of Zacatecas on April 15, 1811, early in
25842-464: The rest of the gold on Earth is thought to have been incorporated into the planet since its very beginning, as planetesimals formed the mantle . In 2017, an international group of scientists established that gold "came to the Earth's surface from the deepest regions of our planet", the mantle, as evidenced by their findings at Deseado Massif in the Argentinian Patagonia . On Earth, gold
26019-474: The same result and showing that the isotopes of gold produced by it were all radioactive . In 1980, Glenn Seaborg transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth into gold at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Gold can be manufactured in a nuclear reactor, but doing so is highly impractical and would cost far more than the value of the gold that is produced. Although gold is the most noble of
26196-403: The second half of the century, when the conditions of the Price Revolution got worse and relentless inflation began to make Spanish enterprise less competitive in the international and colonial market, not all merchants and manufactures found life enjoyable. Only the more powerful merchants were able to survive foreign competition and in doing so prospered boundlessly. Enormous fortunes were made in
26373-484: The silver content. The more silver, the lower the specific gravity . Native gold occurs as very small to microscopic particles embedded in rock, often together with quartz or sulfide minerals such as " fool's gold ", which is a pyrite . These are called lode deposits. The metal in a native state is also found in the form of free flakes, grains or larger nuggets that have been eroded from rocks and end up in alluvial deposits called placer deposits . Such free gold
26550-459: The silver. Based on the records of Earl J. Hamilton (1934), the total imports of specie from the Americas during the 16th century amounted to around 210 million pesos, with 160 million of these pesos being imported in the second half of the 16th century. The total amount of silver imported added up to about 3,915 metric tons of silver. However these numbers underestimate the total amount imported to Spain because Hamilton only counted imports recorded by
26727-399: The sound made when the wind whistles around the rocks. While operations began in the 16th century, its peak was reached in the 17th and 18th centuries. Despite the fact that there is still a significant amount of minerals left to extract, mining operations ceased in 1960, because the entrance is located in the middle of the city making this too hazardous. In 1975, the mine was converted into
26904-446: The south-east corner of the Black Sea is said to date from the time of Midas , and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia around 610 BC. The legend of the golden fleece dating from eighth century BCE may refer to the use of fleeces to trap gold dust from placer deposits in the ancient world. From the 6th or 5th century BC,
27081-475: The staple food, bread, continued to rise. Hamilton's theory pointed to evidence of agricultural price growth, slow nonagricultural price growth and poor timing (of the specie outflow to the East) as tangible evidence of the failure to fix prices and feed the growing populace. Hamilton also pointed to monopolistic and other non-competitive techniques as the typical pricing behavior for European products and factor markets of
27258-532: The state-sponsored Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas The Universidad Tecnológica del Estado de Zacatecas (UTEZ) is part of a technological university system across the Mexico. It was founded in 1998 by the state government of Zacatecas focusing on majors in technology and business. Other technical schools are the Instituto Tecnológico de Zacatecas, the Instituto Politécnico de Zacatecas, and
27435-483: The state. It had been discarded after the War of Independence. The "Marcha Aréchiga" or "Marcha Zacatecas" written by Genaro Codina in the early 20th century, became the semi official anthem of the city and state. The old Instituto de Ciencias was refounded as the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in 1968, and an international airport was constructed in 1970. The anniversary of the city had been celebrated on
27612-436: The tendency of gold ions to interact at distances that are too long to be a conventional Au–Au bond but shorter than van der Waals bonding . The interaction is estimated to be comparable in strength to that of a hydrogen bond . Well-defined cluster compounds are numerous. In some cases, gold has a fractional oxidation state. A representative example is the octahedral species {Au( P(C 6 H 5 ) 3 )} 2+ 6 . Gold
27789-473: The top of this mountain is a museum and statues honoring Pánfilo Natera, Francisco Villa and Felipe Ángeles, which are related to this event. The site also contains an observatory, the Mausoleo de los Hombres Ilustres and the Chapel of Virgen del Patrocinio. The El Edén mine began operations in 1586 and principally produced gold and silver. According to legend the devil is supposed to be found in this parts due to
27966-403: The transmutation of the chemical elements did not become possible until the understanding of nuclear physics in the 20th century. The first synthesis of gold was conducted by Japanese physicist Hantaro Nagaoka , who synthesized gold from mercury in 1924 by neutron bombardment. An American team, working without knowledge of Nagaoka's prior study, conducted the same experiment in 1941, achieving
28143-454: The treasure of the Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc was captured by the French corsair Jean Fleury . Silver arrived in large amounts, whereas gold was rarer to be found. In 1528, Charles V carved out a colony in Venezuela for his German bankers, hoping to discover the legendary golden city of El Dorado . In 1546, the project came to an end and the German colony was disbanded. In the 1540s and 1550s,
28320-483: The troops of Francisco Garcia Salinas. During the Reform War , the city was taken by conservative general Miguel Miramón . The first railroad connecting Zacatecas with Guadalupe was completed in 1880. Connections with Mexico City and El Paso by rail were established in 1884. During the Mexican Revolution, Zacatecas was the scene of the Battle of Zacatecas in 1914, pitting the rebel forces of Francisco Villa against
28497-417: The visors of heat-resistant suits and in sun visors for spacesuits . Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity . Gold has a density of 19.3 g/cm , almost identical to that of tungsten at 19.25 g/cm ; as such, tungsten has been used in the counterfeiting of gold bars , such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold. By comparison, the density of lead is 11.34 g/cm , and that of
28674-783: Was abandoned for a fiat currency system after the Nixon shock measures of 1971. In 2020, the world's largest gold producer was China, followed by Russia and Australia. As of 2020 , a total of around 201,296 tonnes of gold exist above ground. This is equal to a cube, with each side measuring roughly 21.7 meters (71 ft). The world's consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments , and 10% in industry . Gold's high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, as well as conductivity of electricity have led to its continued use in corrosion-resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices (its chief industrial use). Gold
28851-467: Was able to demonstrate that the inflation of prices in France was due far more to Spanish-American influx than to any change in coin debasement. Earl Hamilton, a contemporary price revolution theorist, found that no Spanish writer of the 16th century had voiced opinions similar to those of Jean Bodin despite having conducted meticulous research into Spanish treatises, letters, and other documents. This, however,
29028-522: Was built at the end of the 18th century to carry water from the El Cubo mine area, which gave the structure its name. Only a few arches of it remain. In relation to its population, Zacatecas is one of the cities with the most museums in the nation. The Pedro Coronel Museum is located in the old monastery of the Santo Domingo church, which also housed the former Jesuit college of San Luis Gonzaga. San Luis
29205-573: Was built by the religious order of San Agustín which arrived in the City of Zacatecas in 1575; was consecrated in 1617 and was refurbished and re-consecrated in 1782. The building has been attributed to Andres Manuel de la Riva, who built La Valenciana Church and monastery in Guanajuato. After the Reform Laws, the complex was sold to private buyers who turned it into a pool hall and hotel or apartments. In 1882, it
29382-407: Was built to replace a theater which had burned in the late 1880s (where the González Ortega Market is now). The theater has been in operation since then, having hosted famous performers such as Ángela Peralta . The building is built in a Renaissance revival style and has a hall with large mirrors made in Venice. There are also a number of lesser known landmarks in the city. The first city park
29559-415: Was famous throughout Latin America for the quality of his teaching (one pupil of this college was Father Antonio Núñez de Miranda, the spiritual father of Juana Inés de la Cruz, the Mexican poet). Following the expulsion of the Jesuits and a brief interlude in the hands of the Dominicans, the college was converted successively into a barracks, a prison and a warehouse before being restored in 1981. The museum
29736-451: Was financed by the metals that entered these foreign countries and in turn increased their money supply and drove up their price levels. The increased importation of specie to Spain started in Central Europe around the beginning of the sixteenth century. According to Michael North (1994) central European silver output doubled between 1470 and 1520, and increased even more in the 1520s with the new mine of Joachimsthal . Also during this time
29913-426: Was formally established in 1548 and called Minas de Nuestra Señora de Remedios. The first major vein of silver was found in 1548 in a mine called San Bernabé. This was followed by similar finds in mines called Albarrada de San Benito, Vetagrande, Pánuco and others. This brought a large number of people to Zacatecas, including craftsmen, merchants, clerics and adventurers. In 1550, royalty found its way to Zacatecas in
30090-510: Was founded in 1568 as first monastery in Zacatecas, the monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with the primary function of evangelization. It was inaugurated on January 12, 1707, but some parts of the buildings (such as the south tower) were not really completed until the 19th century. Today the monastery complex houses a museum but the church is in ruins. The vault of the central nave has fallen and many of its rooms and corridors are in ruins. The church of St. Agustine (ex-templo de San Agustín)
30267-425: Was in ruins by the beginning of the 17th century. A second church was built between 1612 and 1625 and was called the Chapel of Santo Cristo. The remains of this construction can be seen in the first level of the south tower and the main façade. The current cathedral was begun in 1729 with main façade finished in 1745 but not opened to worship until 1752. The cathedral is attributed to Domingo Ximénez Hernández and
30444-413: Was not true; less well known is an even earlier Spanish publication in a treatise from 1556 by the cleric Martín de Azpilcueta of the Salamanca School , which made virtually the same claim about the role of Spanish-American silver in the rise of prices. Regardless, Malestroit did put forth several valid claims about the price revolution that continue to hold up today, particularly his argument explaining
30621-453: Was reduced to 7 grains (2.43% fine); in 1552, to 5.5 grains (1.909% fine); in 1566, to 4 grains (1.39% fine). By the start of the 17th century, inflation took hold of Spain as the gap between nominal and silver-based prices dramatically shifted. The purely copper coinage had done its damage to Spain. The difference between the silver- and vellon-based price indexes in Spain showed that the purely copper coinage other European countries used made up
30798-431: Was sold again, this time to the American Presbyterian Society, which demolished the main façade because it did not represent the concepts of that society. The Catholic Church regained possession in 1942 and it is now the Bishop's palace. Reconstruction efforts began in 1948 and continued sporadically until 1969. Only part of the monastery complex survives and is home to the Rafael Coronel Museum. The right side façade of
30975-415: Was soon established at the foot of Cerro de la Bufa. The Zacatecos initially fought the permanent presence of the Spanish, but the mining potential of the area strengthened the Europeans’ resolve and the natives were defeated in the 1540s. Surveys of the other surrounding hills were undertaken by Tolosa, Diego de Ibarra, Baltasar Temiño de Bañuelos, Andrés de Villanueva and others. A military mining camp
31152-486: Was to distort the Witwatersrand basin in such a way that the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the present erosion surface in Johannesburg , on the Witwatersrand , just inside the rim of the original 300 km (190 mi) diameter crater caused by the meteor strike. The discovery of the deposit in 1886 launched the Witwatersrand Gold Rush . Some 22% of all the gold that is ascertained to exist today on Earth has been extracted from these Witwatersrand rocks. Much of
31329-447: Was willing to spend at a higher level to maintain their status as a world power. However, the aristocracy in contrast lost less of its savings than the Crown. The aristocracy could raise rents to increase revenue and not face the full consequences of the Price Revolution. The aristocracy allowed prices to remain high, while inflation alleviated the burden of loans, which became a substantial part of their income. Unlike many other states of
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